(October 2009)  While growing up, Leticia Bajuyos
father would often explain that although every career path contains
a stress level, choosing a vocation in something you love makes that
stress easier to manage. Bajuyo took these words to heart and now enjoys
the many options available to her through her career choice, art.
I tend to have a do-it-yourself attitude that, when combined with
my many interests, yields an ever-growing list of ideas to explore,
said Bajuyo, who is originally from Metropolis, Ill. She has held the
position of Associate Professor of Studio Art at Hanover College since
2007 and was Assistant Professor of Art before that from 2001 to 2007.

Leticia
Bajuyo

Bajuyo, 33, has also been the Gallery Director from 2001
to the present at Hanover Colleges Greiner Art Gallery.
Being a member of the Hanover College faculty, I am able to continue
pursuing Art from multiple perspectives: designer, creator, educator,
director and a support.
Entropy: a vortex of useless memory, is Bajuyos latest
artistic exhibit. It was composed of more than 5,000 CDs from more than
50 sponsors, she said. The donated discs were no longer wanted
or needed by their previous owners but were once useful, important or
enjoyable.
These discarded discs combine to create the surface of Entropy.
When first viewed, said Bajuyo, the sculpture looks
like a wall of shiny sequins that spiral towards a vortex that one can
peer up into like a tunnel.
The exhibit will travel to the Cressman Center for Visual Arts, on the
corner of First and Main, in Louisville in October. By displaying her
work, she will be participating in a graduate curatorial thesis exhibition
which includes work by Lexington artist Louis Zoeller Bickett, said
Joey Yates, Curator for the Cressman Center.
The exhibit will deal with the aspects of contemporary material
culture and the artistic practice of appropriation, said Yates.
The Cressman Center provides an exhibition space for professors and
students who are involved in the MA programs for Studio Art and Critical
and Curatorial Studies, Yates continued.
Entropy debuted at Herron School of Art in Indianapolis
over the summer. It was inspired by the gallery space and discussions
with her curator, Jay Jordan, said Bajuyo. She counts one of her strengths
as an artist and one of her favorite parts in installation, to striving
to complement a gallery with her artwork.
Recent developments in my artwork are community involvement and
utilization of donated, non-biodegradable materials, she said.
In addition to using CDs, the sculpture is also comprised of wood, cable
ties and monofilament.
The idea of using CDs as a material to create with came from a donation
suggestion of used CDs that found their way to Bajuyo. Students from
Madison Consolidated High Schools Environmental Club have begun
a collection at the school that will be added to the sculpture for its
October display

Photo
provided

Artist
Leticia Bajuyo
has created a sculpture
using more than 5,000 discarded CDs from
50 sponsors.

The factor that makes the work unique is that it is continually
different and changeable, she said. Similar to a happening or
performance, it will never be exactly identical to the previous installation.
Also, it is unique in that the community is a major part of the sculpture.
Bajuyo shows viewers the immense amount of information that is
hidden within the everyday objects that surround us, said Yates.
In Entropy, she takes the slowly disappearing compact
disc and transforms it into an awe inspiring construction of light and
data.
Through this exhibit, Bajuyo offers us a short history lesson
in the evolution of music listening media, Yates said. Hopefully
this will inspire people to pause and think about our relationship to
music listening in the past, present and future.
The version on display at the Cressman Center will include an audio
element, so visitors may want to bring their MP3 players and Ipods when
they visit the center. When this exhibit is finished, Bajuyo said she
would retain the materials, which may be added to and reused for future
sculptural installations.
Bajuyo will exhibit an installation beginning Nov. 14, at Hanover Colleges
Greiner Art Gallery that debuted in Pennsylvania in March 2009 titled,
pre-fab(ulous) environments. This exhibit is made of Styrofoam,
12x8-foot vinyl print, cardstock, plaster, furniture, light and audience
participation.